I’ve recently been listening to some lectures by Fr Thomas Hopko (Dean Emeritus of St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary) that deal with both the Apocalypse and the Divine Liturgy. I highly recommend his work, especially for those who have come from an evangelical or Baptist background, as he can make things quite simple for us.
A passing comment he made in one of his lectures was in regards to the fact that a lot of what passes for Orthodox “spirituality” today is seemingly little more than repackaged Zen Buddhism. Those who enter into Orthodoxy from a heavily “Western” background are prone to this error, especially, as they have likely never had any experiences of God that were anything but rationalistic, or entirely of the mind.
For those with a proneness to wandering and being “tossed to and fro” (Ephesians), as Saint Paul intimates, the temptation is certainly very real and dangerous. There are, unfortunately, no shortage of misleading and unhelpful people out there (especially in the Internet age) who would dare to combine other forms of atheistic/agnostic meditation with the hesychastic prayer found within the one, true Church. There are even many books out there that are shared among Orthodox people (e.g. The Mountain of Silence) that can lead Christians to believe that meditation and/or individualized “Spirituality” are the pinnacle of one’s Christian life, with little to no regard for other people, the Body of Christ and the importance of our life within the Church (and with other people). Indeed, it seems that those who are the most schismatic, unstable or “led astray” within the Church are those whose interests often align exclusively with that of their own self-interests, rather than the good of the Body (and their own family).
One of the most distinguished characteristics of the Orthodox Church is the nuanced (some might say “eastern” or “Greek”) understanding of “symbol” that is transcendant and goes beyond mere externals or the recesses of one’s brain. The concept of “symbol” for most people in the west today is — in the words of the reposed Fr Alexander Schmemann: “an illustration whose purpose can be termed pedagogic or educational.” In other words, a symbol merely points to or teaches about an idea or concept, but offers no real or transcendant connection to anything beyond itself. In Orthodoxy, however, a symbol is a gateway or “window” to something beyond itself; it is something that truly connects the person with the thing signified.
Well, it is that time of year again: the time of year when a great number of people in the world – for seemingly no particular reason at all – “give up something” for Lent. Buddhist, Methodist, Roman Catholic, Agnostic, Baptist … they’re all in, it seems.
